| Content Description | Addresses her as 'Dear Little Ousel' and acknowledges receipt of her book and letters; discusses travel arrangements to visit her; refers to the subjects raised in her letters 'church,... Cornwall ... and whiskey'; has not yet received the Cornwall application forms but assumes that if he does secure a post there she will follow him; offers to help her find suitable accommodation in Gaddesby; mentions a preference for 'Scotch' whisky and hopes that her reforms do not mean that he will have to take a pledge of 'total abstinence'; believes that a bout of drinking is preferable to melancholy, and that he drinks when he has 'horrors'; assures her that he is free from any 'vicious habits'.
Recalls meeting the Smiths [Philip Frank Turner-Smith, his second wife Alice and their daughter Doris E. Smith], describing their outing to Rottingdean; looks forward to his visit the following week and promises to be on his best behaviour; plans to attend a Tchaïkowsky [Peter Ilitch Tchaïkowsky, 1840-1893, Russian composer] concert and admits how much he misses her; wishes that he could send her Renan's [Ernest Renan, 1823-1892, French philologist and historian] 'Canticle (Song of Solomon)'; signed 'D.H. Lawrence'.
Letter is simply dated Thursday, but was presumably 29 Dec 1910, during the week Lawrence spent at Hove. |